Lindale,John B.,House
24 Walnut St., Magnolia, DEThe Lindale House is one of the best-preserved Queen Anne Revival houses in Delaware.
John B. Lindale was born December 5, 1864, in South Murderkill Hundred, where he made his fortune./He was the last, and one of the richest, of all the men who engaged in the peach industry. He made his home in Magnolia, Delaware, and in fact, owned most of the town. The house he built for himself with his profits from the peach industry is a significant example of the Queen Anne Revival style. The popular success of Queen Anne Revival architecture in America dates from the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876, at which the British government put up two half-timbered buildings to provide living quarters and offices for the British Executive Commissioner and his staff. The American Builder wrote of the style after having seen the examples at the exposition that; "... the chief thing that will strike the observant eye in this style is its wonderful adaptability to this country, not to the towns indeed, but to the land at large... It is to be hoped that the next millionaire who puts up a cottage at Long Branch will adopt this style, and he will have a house ample enough to entertain a Prince, yet exceedingly cozy, cool in summer, and yet abundantly warm in winter, plain enough, and yet capable of the highest ornamental development."
Apparently, Lindale agreed, and when it came time to build, chose the style for himself, employing Charles G. Fisher of Milford as the architect. What makes the house all the more interesting, however, is its excellent state of preservation, including the original fence around the property, planting urns in the yard, small flower gardens and every outbuilding as originally built.
Thus the house is important as one of the visual monuments to the last and greatest flowering of the peach industry in Delaware, as an example of one of the best of the Victorian styles, and as an example of the high quality of design attainable by a 19th century Delawarean architect.
The preservation of the house is attributable in part to the Lindale's longevity. John Lindale died in 1937 and his widow in 1961. After her death, the house was bought by the present owners, who have preserved it.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.